Day Break
by CuzHot
Summary: Bella dies during childbirth, Jacob imprints on Renesme and Edward doesn't know what he's doing. What will they do when the Volturi and a sister tribe get involved? Edward/Jacob NOT Jacob/Renesme! Warnings: language, creepy extreme actions and OC's.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight series or anything/anyone in it.

—

She looks peaceful lying against the white silk. People are standing around her and saying kind words before dropping flowers around her: lilies, daisies, roses, carnations. They're all white. They make her look paler. Isabella Swan had passed away not three days ago. People say it was a car accident. That she was tired and the road was slippery from the constant rain. She had numerous broken ribs, but ultimately she had succumbed due to a large laceration in her lower abdomen. She had lost too much blood.

Ironically enough, the sun is out today. Its warm rays cast a halo around her as she lies in her casket. Jacob can hear people sobbing and he glances at Chief Swan; the chief isn't crying but his face looks dull as if it were carved out of stone. His eyes carry no light, they only look tired and weary. Feeling an inexplicable rush of guilt, Jacob looks back down at the coffin lying on the moist grass of the cemetery. He secretly wishes for Bella to just pop out of it with that awkward smile of hers and say, "I'm sorry! I'm fine now!" and just play it off as an accident. The thought makes him want to laugh and cry at the same time. Jacob wipes his face, almost to check to see if he really is crying. He isn't.

As the funeral continues on, Jacob wonders bitterly where the Cullens are. Of course the Cullens couldn't come; the sun was out, Jacob rationalizes. But he still feels a deep rage at the thought of the coven. They are the ones responsible for Bella's death and yet they don't even have the decency to attend her funeral. They should've come regardless of their secret. It's the least that they could do.

The Cullens had always been considered the main source of trouble for his tribe. And Jacob can't help but agree. If Bella never met the Cullens, none of this would have ever happened. She would be alive. Maybe even in love with him. Jacob shakes his head, disgusted at himself for thinking that way. Bella Swan is gone. She died loving Edward Cullen. She couldn't survive the birthing process of that—

Of Edward's child.

The memories of that day come flooding into Jacob's mind. Bella held her newborn daughter in her arms with tears in her eyes from what he could only guess was exhaustion and euphoria. She had declared that the baby was the most beautiful thing in the world before her eyes fluttered closed and her body went limp. Jacob never got to confirm or deny her declaration. He had been too busy panicking about Bella's pulse flat lining to spare a glance for the baby in her arms. He screamed at Edward, demanding, begging that he bite her, begging that he save her life but it didn't work. Her body was too weak from giving birth and she died instantaneously. Her last moments had been of her admiring the beauty of her baby. She died while bringing life into the world. There couldn't have been a more honorable way to die. It made Jacob feel nauseous.

A gust of wind whirls by and Jacob breathes in deeply. He catches the scent of something achingly familiar which makes his hair stand on end. A violent shiver runs down his spine and his shoulders instinctively haunch forward, ready to phase at the next sign of a threat. He fights the intense urge to growl as the smell corpses invade his nose, making his nostrils flare. It's unreasonable, the anger that Jacob feels. Just a moment ago he was angry that they weren't there. But as of this moment, he is enraged that they dare show their faces.

The scent of the Cullen family gets closer, but as soon as their scent is strong enough for Jacob to determine that they've reached the trees surrounding the cemetery, they don't come any closer. The trees are pretty far away. No one would be able to see or hear them if they tried, no human anyway.

An internal war rages in Jacob's mind. His instincts are telling him to hunt them down and tear them apart immediately and without hesitation, but his human side acknowledges that Chief Swan hasn't read his eulogy yet, and leaving during Bella funeral for any reason, especially for the Cullens, was unacceptable. He tries his best to stay still but the smell is pounding against his nose and overwhelming all his other senses. He fidgets, barely able refrain from howling for the rest of his pack and going leech hunting. It isn't until there are men lowering Bella's coffin inside the grave that Jacob allows himself to walk away.

Stalking towards his Rabbit as fast as he could without running, Jacob throws open the driver's side door and get's in. He stabs the key into the ignition and cranks the car to life with more force than necessary. He speeds away quickly and loudly, the tires not quite able to grip the damp topsoil of where he parked. He pulled onto the main road and catches a glimpse of Charlie's face. Jacob can't shake the feeling that Chief Swan knows what he's about to do although he knows it's impossible.

Jacob drives away from the cemetery and onto a forest path half a mile down the road. He drives down the path until he meets a dead end and then parks the car, taking off his father's suit jacket and leaving it on the passenger seat before continuing on foot. He follows the scent which makes his nose burn uncomfortably. The smell isn't unbearable, but it's nowhere near pleasant. It's an unnatural mix between the stench of corpses and a honey sweet smell what makes him feel warm and longing to breathe in more. It made his head spin and his eyes water, like when a girl wore too much perfume.

Finally, he reaches the spot where the smell is the strongest. It is deeper in the forest than he had originally anticipated. The Cullens must have moved while he had been driving. Jacob cautiously searches the trees for any signs of vampires. His pupils are blown wide and he aches to phase, yet he refrains, "I know you're there…"

The sound of a twig snapping causes Jacob to finally snap his head towards the source of the noise where one of the Cullens is hunched over and ready to pounce. It was the girl that Bella was close with. He prepares to attack her when he's suddenly blindsided by another vampire. The force of the collision is bone-crushing; it feels as if Jacob had a boulder thrown at him. It makes his ears ring and spots his vision. His body slams into a tree and the thick bark of the pine shatters at the impact making his breath abandon his lungs. A huge, rock-like arm and shoulder ram into Jacob's chest and stomach in unison, effectively pinning him. Jacob's ribs break with audible cracks under the sudden immense pressure. He opens his mouth to howl, scream, _anything_ to relieve the agony in his chest when an ice cold hand slaps firmly over it, "No howling." A gruff voice barks into his still ringing ear. Jacob closes his mouth, and lets out a breath of air through his nose and making a sound which he refuses to call a whine.

Although he hates to admit it, Jacob is terrified and disgusted with his own stupidity. He's at the mercy of seven vampires and is pathetically outmatched, all because he never thought to call his pack for backup. Despite desperately wanting to, he finds that he _can't phase_ either. He can't muster up the focus that he needs with the crippling pain throbbing in his chest. Jacob's breath comes out in great heaves, making his chest rise and fall making him wince every time. His attacker is the largest Cullen and Jacob thrashes against the hold, ignoring the pain due to the adrenaline coursing through his veins and temporarily numbing his mangled chest.

"That's enough, Emmett. Let him go." Carlisle's voice is soft yet holds no room for argument. Emmet grunts and removes himself from Jacob, letting his body slide down the trunk of the tree and crumple uselessly on the forest floor. His breaths now come easier to him, yet it doesn't stop Jacob's vision from blurring and more white spots from clouding it further. He blinks, trying to clear his vision enough to look his attackers in the eyes and takes in one more deep breath. He bites his tongue at the burning pain of his ribs and swallows before speaking in an embarrassingly weak voice, "What are you doing here?"

The blond Cullen: Rosie or something to that affect scoffs though Jacob can't decide whether it's because of how pathetic he looks or because of his question.

"We're here for Bella's funeral." Carlisle's wife answered.

Jacob glares at her with as much malice as his pain-addled brain would allow, "Why are you _here_ and not out there with everyone else?"

"We could ask the same to you," the other blond Cullen, the fighter, says in a monotone.

"Aside from the fact that the sun is out, Edward is most likely the last person that Chief Swan would like to see right now. We're giving him some space," Carlisle explains, "Now why are you here?"

Jacob averts his gaze, why _is_ he there? He honestly can't remember his reason for being there anymore. He was angry, right? For them not showing up, or was it because they showed at all? Of course they would show up, they loved Bella too. So why was he angry in the first place? A wave of dizziness stopped Jacob from thinking anymore. The adrenaline had already left his system and now he's running on fear and willpower alone.

The wife must have sensed his discomfort because she instantly speaks, "Carlisle, the poor boy's in pain. There isn't any sense in interrogating him in the state that he's in. We should fix him up."

Brown eyes widen and Jacob begins to struggle anew, "N-no don't t-touch me." He clenches his teeth and stands using the tree for support with one hand while clutching at his chest with the other, "I'm sorry for bothering you. I'll leave," he mutters without thinking. He grits his teeth as his body screams in protest. Once he finally gets up on his feet, he holds his ribs with one arm and he starts walking back down the path that leads to his parked car.

Every step makes Jacob dizzy with pain, every breath makes his lungs burn; the knuckles in his free hand are white with pressure. He manages to walk all of three steps when Edward suddenly appears in front of him and before Jacob could react, buries his fist into his already ruined chest. More deep cracking sounds come from Jacob's body signifying that the rest of his ribs were now shattered. He coughs; eyes open impossibly wide and mouth open as if to scream, yet nothing comes out.

The pain that Jacob feels makes his body panic. It hurt even more then his bone rearranging the first time he phased. It hurt more than when he crashed his motorcycle when he was 16. Jacob keeled over and dry heaves, a thick string of saliva oozing from his lips. He falls to his knees, leaning forward with his forehead almost touching the ground and heaves again before his body begins shaking violently from the shock. The world is spinning around him and everything looks increasingly distorted. He can barely see the scandalized faces of Edward's family and Carlisle rushing towards him where he collapsed. Jacob tries to take in a breath when he realizes that it's been quite some time since his last, but his lungs refused to work. Jacob finally can't stay conscious anymore and his eyes roll back before he blacks out. He body crumples onto his side in a broken heap.

There was a moment, right before Jacob had lost consciousness when he saw something strange. As Edward stared down at Jacob's fall form with an indifferent look on his face, Jacob's eyes momentarily focused on a bundle of cloth in the vampire's arms. Even though the world was distorted and Jacob was barely clinging to his consciousness, he saw a child wrapped in blankets with startling clarity. She seemed to glow and she was so beautiful.

The most beautiful thing in the world.

—

Notes:

So before continuing on with the story, I just wanted to clarify that I'm using the Twilight movies as the basis for their appearances. This means that Jacob is shorter than Edward. I'm pretty sure that's not true to the books, but since I've never read past the first novel, and I'm pretty sure he was around Edwards height in that book, that's what I'm going with.

Also, as I just mentioned, I have not read the books past the first one. So my facts may be wrong or I may be confused about what happened in the novels. Feel free to correct me if I get some concept or fact completely wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

"Edward! What have you done?" Esme is at Jacob's side in a moment and cradles his head into her lap making sure that he was still breathing, "You could have killed him."

Edward stares at her and indifferent expression set on his face, "He needs help."

Emmett's laughter booms through the forest, "Some help you are," he slaps Edward's back while shaking his head. Alice's voice cuts through the laughter, "We're taking him home." Carlisle and Esme share a meaningful at this declaration before Carlisle spoke up, "What are we going to do about his family and his pack then? We've beaten him half to death, and now we're going to kidnap him? At this point, they have every right to wage war on us."

Esme glared at Edward disapprovingly, though he felt no guilt. Edward could hear his pained mental cursing from a mile away. He had done did him a favor; so why does everyone keep looking at him like he's some kind of criminal?

"What?" Edward asks. No one says anything. Instead they carry on with their business. Emmett gathers Jacob gingerly into his arms and starts heading for where they had parked their cars earlier.

"If we let him go, his pack would have found out about it anyway. Now that he is coming with us, we are fixing what we have broken. This way the Quileute tribe can't blame us for anything," Edward says finally.

And then there is more silence.

"Edward's right. We don't need a war… especially not right now." Alice took Jasper by the wrist and led him towards their car not too far away where Emmett was already waiting with Jacob safely secured in the back.

Esme resolutely ignores Edward as she also walks back to her car. He watches after her confused when Carlisle pats his shoulder and joins his wife on her stroll to the cars.

Edward stares after them, feeling a strange weight in his chest. His attention is suddenly diverted when Renesme gurgles from her place in his arms. She blinks at him curiously with her big brown eyes. Edward smiles at his daughter and runs the back of my finger over her cheek before following the trail that their family left on back to their cars. They reach Edward's car, the Vanquish, and he pulls open the passenger door to strap Renesme into her car seat. He then joins her in the vehicle and quickly drives away. While driving along the winding roads of Forks, Edward takes a sharp turn off the main road onto a forest path and parks.

He sits in a brooding silence with his fingers curling tightly around the leather of the steering wheel, making it creak dangerously. He is irritated. He doesn't understand why he is, but he is. And his ignorance only frustrates him more.

Edward bites his bottom lip, kneading the flesh between his teeth; a habit he hasn't revisited in years. The distress he feels isn't the sort of remorse like he felt when Bella died. Though that feeling still tugs at his heart, it does so differently. This feeling makes his hands feel clammy, though he knows he hasn't perspired in over a century, it makes his head ring and his chest feel oddly heavy. It makes him feel nervous, jittery like he's never been before. It makes him feel…

Furious.

He is livid, a certain unexplainable bloodlust bubbling up within him. It's as if a demon which was once well buried suddenly burst from his soul. It's terrible, angry, sadistic. Edward's eyebrows knit together, glaring at his hands with eyes which are now pitch black.

All stops when Renesme begins to cry.

The sound of her sobs makes banishes the anger from Edward's mind. He turns in his seat and reaches for her. He takes her little hand and gives it a delicate squeeze. He looks back at her and smiles as gently as he could, "You don't have to worry. I'm not mad." Almost immediately her crying ceases, she stares at him in a way that only babies can and huffs, exhausted from her tears. Edward then hears her thoughts.

Babies and adults have very different thoughts. With adults, it isn't hard to tell what their primary thought is at any moment in time. But for babies, their attention spans have yet to fully develop so they jerked from one thought to another, prompting thought readers like Edward to chase them; like a game of tag, except you are trying to get one person in a bustling, moving crowd.

After a moment of searching through her thoughts, Edward finally finds the one that seems to be right, _'Daddy's crying "Wolf!" and the villagers don't believe him!'_

Edward laughs lightly at this, his heart tugging oddly again, though he is able to file it away this time. He pats her head lightly and turns back to the wheel again.

"I'm sorry love," He starts lovingly, "I will not lie to you ever again."

He gives her one last smile through the rearview mirror and starts up the car once more and pulls off the forest path and drives towards home.

In attempt to remain calm and not let the dark feelings from before retake him, Edward distracts himself by taping the fingers of his free hand on his thigh. He plays an imaginary tune on his leg, imagining the sound of the notes, the feel of smooth white keys under his fingertips instead of the fabric of his black pants.

Soon the steep up-hill road of the Cullen driveway breaks into Edward's line of sight; it is a sight for which he is strangely grateful. He parks in the empty spot inside the garage and retrieves Renesme from the back seat. They enter the house and as soon as they are inside, a wave of some foreign smell hits Edward and disorients him for a moment. He grimaces and holds his free hand to my nose. It is undoubtedly Jacob's scent. He had completely forgotten about his smell back in the woods… He somewhat regrets it now.

Walking inside the living room, Edward hears voices and thoughts alike.

"Oh God he stinks…"

"You'll just have to deal with it Rosalie. We're responsible for him now."

'_She's right…'_

"I don't want his stench all over the house!"

'_This is all Edward's fault!'_

"Well you don't necessarily have to breathe."

'_Annoying.'_

"Jasper! That's no way to talk to your sister!"

"Ah c'mon Esme, Jasper's just teasing"

'_Alright Emmett, defend Jasper instead of me, I'm totally fine with that…'_

"Alice will you please get some bandages for me?"

"Sure! I'll be right ba— Edward's home!"

Edward stood in the entryway to the living room to find Rosalie glaring at him while Esme is scolding Jasper and Emmett, who has his arm around Jasper's shoulders, and Carlisle kneeling on the floor wrapping the mutt with temporary bandages with the help of Alice. Edward spares the outsider a glance and takes note that he is still unconscious and has a bit of blood running from the side of his mouth that wasn't there before.

Edward breathes in Jacob's scent and makes a face of disgust at the strong odor and advances further into the room. Alice immediately approaches him and pulls him into an embrace, _'Are you alright? You know I'm always here to talk if you need it,'_ she assures.

"Keep your thoughts to yourself." Edward gently scolds her and she pouts. He nods at her and squeezes her shoulder before turning to Esme who looks somewhat relieved that he has arrived, "Hello Edward." She gives Edward a very motherly hug and pats and rubs his back. He smiles at her, "Hello Esme," and turns his gaze to Jacob's bandaged form, "I hope he wasn't too much trouble."

"He wouldn't be if he didn't make the whole house smell like crap." Rosalie grumbles with her arms crossed over her chest. Esme scowls at her while Emmett and Jasper snicker from the corner, "Edward," Emmett calls, "Since he's staying in your room, make sure he heals properly so he's in perfect condition for me!" He was grinning like an idiot and sounded like a child wanting to play with his new favorite toy, "One on one with the big, bad wolf!" He continues more to Jasper than to his youngest brother.

Edward stops, "I'm sorry, for a moment I thought I heard you say that he's saying in my room."

"We thought it would be for the best since he knows you the best," Carlisle explains before Emmett could respond.

A cold sense of dread pushes heavily upon his shoulders. "Carlisle, he _can't_ stay in my room, he _hates_ me!"

"He'll be more comfortable around you than he will a vampire that he doesn't know."

The dark feeling from before floods Edward's soul once more and the black hand of rage steals his reason. He grabs his father figure by the throat with his free hand and bears his teeth, "Why are you punishing me for this? Emmett's the one who injured him the most!"

Before anything else happens, Jasper and Emmett are on either side of him, each hold him firmly by the shoulders, preventing him from moving any further. There is a tense silence which Renesme breaks when she bursts into tears. Rosalie immediately scoops her up from Edward's shaking arms and holds the weeping child tightly to her chest. She gives her brother an indiscernible look before retreated from the living room and taking Renesme with Esme following after her.

Carlisle is the first to speak after that, "Edward, I don't know what's gotten over you, but you need to calm down."

Edward closes his eyes to take a few deep breaths as Carlisle continues, "This isn't to punish you. Like I said before, Jacob knows you the best. Given your history with Bella, as well as his," Edward jerks at the hands holding him back and snarls at this, but Carlisle doesn't stop, "You two have a common ground. This isn't a punishment, son. No one blames you."

After several moments of silence, Edward looks at his two brothers and their hands fall away. He straighten up, now calm once more and nods stiffly, much like the way he had done when he first joined Carlisle as a new vampire, "Yes, Father."

—

Notes:

For those of you who are new to this story, I'm warning you right now. I've always thought of Edward as sort of a sociopath. I didn't find him to be right in the head in the books, and I'm only going to make that more apparent in this story so proceed with caution.


	3. Chapter 3

Jacob wakes, though his eyes remain closed, to a pounding ache in his head. He tries to open his eyes, but they refused to open. Perplexed, he moves to rub his face with his hand, but once again finds that he can't. In fact, he can't feel _anything. _Curious, he tries to rub two fingers together. Nothing happens. His body isn't moving. Jacob felt a rush of panic, his heart began beating faster. At least, it _seems _like it's beating faster. He isn't so sure because of the lack of feeling in his chest as well. _'Calm down Jacob. Calm down. Try your other senses. Touch and sight are obviously useless but what about your hearing and smelling?' _ He takes a deep breath through my nose and tries to focus on any scent that would give away where I was. My breath caught.

This isn't his house.

'_Shit, where am I?'_ He thought frantically. His breath came faster now, and Jacob is positive that his heart is beating faster because he can hear it pounding in his ears. He tries to open my eyes again, this time concentrating and putting more force into his eyelids, and to his utter relief, he succeeds.

White is all that he saw. It was blinding, making him wince and closed his eyes again. After a beat he opens his eyes again, finding it to be easier now that he's done it once. His vision is blurry, even after he allows his eyes adjust to the sudden light. Jacob darts his eyes back and forth, seeing nothing but a white ceiling and a standard light in the middle of it all. And the relief that he felt from being able to see again was crushed by a renewed wave of panic.

He's trapped.

He's useless. He's _vulnerable_.He can't move and he doesn't even know where he is. In a room. In a house. But _where_?

He hears a door open. By reflex he tries to turn his head, but finds it to be impossible. He hears footsteps and breathing, and a pungent perfumed smell violates his nose, _'Shit… there's someone in here… whoever it is… it smells like a leech—'_

"I supposed I'm relieved that your personality remains unchanged."

Jacob's eyes widened a fraction. He knows that voice, that sickeningly melodious voice that stole from him. It was Cullen. Instinctively the muscles around Jacob's mouth and cheeks start to tense and tries to rise in order to growl.

"Calm yourself mutt. You're not moving anytime soon."

The leech still isn't in Jacob's view, but he can almost see that apathetic look on his face. The realization that his predicament is Edward's doing strikes him. Instantly, he is pissed and irritated beyond belief.

"You're obviously mistaken. _I_ didn't do this to you. My father was the one who numbed you."

Jacob's anger grew, _'These bastards drugged me?!'_

"Is that really a proper way think of the people who saved your life?"

'…_Saved my life? You're the one who did this to me you bitch!'_

"If we didn't fix you, you would have been out longer than just a week."

His thoughts stilled when hearing those words. Had Jacob really been out for so long?

"5 days and 16 hours, to be precise."

Annoying. Why is this guy so annoying? Jacob wondered. Does he realize he's so insufferably annoying? He can practically _feel_ the vampire smirking down at him now.

"Surly I'm not _that_ bad."

If Jacob could move, he would have lashed out in response, _'Stop reading my thoughts you little bloodsucking fucker.'_

He hears that infuriating chuckle again, "No need to be nasty. It's not as if I can really help it."

Jacob huffs. I knows that. But he'd be damned if he didn't take any chance to pick a fight with the leech. His ears twitch at the sound of a new set of footsteps entering the room.

"Jacob, I see that you're awake now." It's Dr. Daddy-Leech's voice.

"Hello," Edward greets his father, "You're right. He's just regained consciousness and I'm fairly sure that he is in good condition. Mentally at least," he adds haughtily.

Jacob tries to frown, and only huffs again for his troubles, at that comment. One of the two leeches approaches Jacob on his bed. When Carlisle leans over Jacob's prone form, he feels himself trying to shrink back into the bed. The doctor gives him a kind smile and proceeds with his check-up. Jacob doesn't like it one bit. He prods his chest, flashes a light in his eyes and finally, listens my heart rate.

An odd whining sound penetrates the silence of the room. What the hell is that? Edward lets a small chuckle escape from his collected state and Carlisle just continued to smile at his patient and work. Jacob wonders what the sound is when finally, Edward's annoyingly perfect voice reaches his ears, "Be careful Carlisle. I think you might be hurting the poor mutt." His tone was smug and mocking, as if he's very pleased and for no good reason at all.

Did that sound come from me? Jacob wonders, feeling his face heat up a little bit. Shit. He silently thanks whatever deity that neither of the vampires with him said anything after that. The room is silent again. It isn't the nice comforting silence that Jacob is used to at his home or when he's alone. No, it was the kind of thick silence laced with tension that can be felt pushing down on your back. He tries to listen, desperate for some noise that he can focus on, but all that he hears is his own breathing and the slight movements of Carlisle's clothes. He couldn't hear either of them breathing.

It was creepy.

If he were able to move, he would have jumped at the sudden noise of the doctor's cell phone going off. The shrill ringing sound tears through the silence, making Jacob's heart rate spike with surprise. The ringing is abruptly silences as Carlisle answers his phone.

"This is Dr. Cullen."

A pause.

"Yes. Yes, I understand."

Another pause.

"Yes. Alright I'll be right there."

Carlisle's phone is flipped shut and he says to Edward, "I'm afraid that I'm needed at the hospital at the moment. It seems to be that there was a victim of some sort of… attack… That aside, Edward I need you to take young Mr. Black's temperature and if he feels and pain, give him this." That last part of the doctor's instructions makes Jacob nervous. He can't see what the doctor is holding up for Edward to see but, by the sound it makes when he puts it down, it is made of glass. _'Maybe it's a bottle of pills?' _Jacob hopes, but then he is ripped from his musings as an ice cold hand touches his throat. He gasps through his nose and jumps a little. He glares at the leech who was now leaning over him with thermometer in hand.

Jacob pauses. Edward's hands. They feel cold. Can he feel again? And he had jumped… Can he move? As an experiment, Jacob tries to move his fingers. There is very little sensation but he can't help but celebrate when he clearly feels his fingers slowly moving next to each other.

"You shouldn't be celebrating now that the drugs are wearing off." Edward continues to stare down at Jacob from his standing position. Jacob wants to speak. And now that he can move a little, he resolutely decides to try to speak.

"Wai— ell nah?" As soon as he attempts to say "why the hell not", Jacob closes my mouth and intends to keep them shut. His voice is raspy and hoarse from the lack of usage and his words can't form correctly due to his muscles still being a bit numb. Edward makes a thoughtful sound, making Jacob glare suspiciously, _'What?'_

"It was a gallant attempt but it's going to be another hour or so before you're able to speak."

'_Could've told me that earlier asshole…'_

"Forgive me."

The words started Jacob. Never before has Edward asked for his forgiveness. It had always been the norm for them to be completely uncivil towards each other. Things like apologies and forgiveness never really mattered between them, and Jacob can't see why they should matter now.

"It doesn't matter whether or not you are nice to me. I need to take responsibility for doing this to you."

Edward goes silent again. It bothers Jacob. He's so used to the various errant noises that happen in his house: the creak of old wood, the running refrigerator, the television, his dad talking on the phone, anything. In this house it is always silent. Everything is new enough that there are no random creaks and everyone speaks softly, if ever at all. One would think that people who never slept would have more to talk about…

"Well. Silence aside, I still need to take your temperature." Edward words cut into his thoughts again. Jacob sighs through his nose, _'If you must… it's not like I can stop you.'_

Edward says nothing and picks up what Jacob guesses is the thermometer from the nightstand next to my bed. He leans over him and holds the device in his hand. It is the kind that is placed inside a person's ear so he guesses that Edward is just trying to get a better angle into his ear. Edward holds the thermometer in his right hand and pushed the nozzle-shaped end into his left ear. Jacob closed his eyes and waits for the process to be over when suddenly, an ice cold hand meets with the skin of his cheek. His eyes open abruptly, startled by the sudden contact. Jacob stares up at him, too shocked to ask what he is doing. Edward isn't looking at him. He's staring intently at the thermometer that's still in his ear and presses the button, making it emit a high-pitched 'beep' sound.

Ten, agonizingly long seconds later, the same beeping noise sounds again. And Edward removes the device from Jacob's ear. He stares at the little screen on the machine with furrowed eyebrows, "You should be dead."

Jacob's eyebrow's both rise, _'What do you mean?'_

Edward shrugs and shows him the screen. It reads, "130.8 F". _'Oh. That's what he meant… Don't worry. I don't have a fever.'_

The leech just gives him a brief look before straightening himself up and discarding the plastic cover of the thermometer.

"I'm going to leave you alone now. Get some rest. The sooner you get better, the sooner you can get out of here."

The corners of Jacob's mouth lift a bit at the thought and he lets out a small laugh… more like a mixture between a huff and a wheeze… _'Thank the fucking lord.'_

And with that, he hears the vampire's soft footsteps go further away from him and then he hears the door shut. Dammit. Silence. Again. Jacob hadn't thought about that. He closes my eyes and tries to relax himself so that he can attempt to sleep, but he had already slept for an entire week, he doesn't think he _could _sleep any longer even if he tried. So Jacob just closes his eyes and thinks about… stuff.

'_Dad's gonna kill me… I wonder if anyone from the reserve's looking for me… Nah… They probably know where I am… If they were looking for me, they would have tracked me down by my scent, right? … Come to think of it… didn't the leeches smell… worse before?'_

He sniffs the air for any traces of the pungent perfume-like aroma infused with the scent of corpses. But there is nothing.

'_Did the drugs trip my sense of smell or something?'_ He feels his eyebrows scrunch close together with confusion, _'Edward and Carlisle were in here just now… and I didn't smell anything… what happened?'_

He ponders that more and tries to figure out what had happened, and then his mind begins to wander. He thinks about Bella, and everyone on the reserve and the Cullens… Edward… The baby that was wrapped in his arms. That was Bella's kid wasn't it? He feels a strange feeling of anger tug at his gut, _'she died giving birth to that baby… Edward's baby…'_ he repeats these thoughts over and over in his head, trying to get mad at the child. But strangely enough, he can't bring himself to think ill of her. In fact, he feels the overwhelming urge to see her. _'How do I know it's a girl? Why do I feel this way? Is it because she's related to Bella?'_

He continues to think about it when suddenly; a dull throbbing pain starts to make its way across my chest like water across a plain. Jacob groans and tries to lift his arm. It works. He moves his arm towards his chest and touches the bandaged skin. As soon as his hand hits the flesh that was bound in white cloth, pain eruptes through his body, radiating from that one point.

"—Fuck—" As soon as the curse word leaves his mouth, a hand places itself atop his mouth, preventing him from speaking more. The action surprises Jacob so he gasps a little, but that sudden intake of breath just made the pain flare more. His eyes flew open and Jacob saw the deep amber color of Edward's eyes. He feels ashamed but the pain is too much and he can't help but blink back the tears welling up in the corners of his eyes, _'Help me…'_ he thinks, the thought is meant to be heard and thank God it is. Jacob expects the vampire to give him some sort of pain killers to swallow, but instead he reaches up and starts to quickly, but gently rip open Jacob's bandages.

As soon as his chest was exposed to the air, Edward lightly touched his ice cold hand to Jacob's aching flesh and surprisingly enough, cools the aching fire on his chest. It doesn't take away the pain at all, but it helps it a little. Jacob closed his eyes and tries to focus solely on the cold hand that is resting on his chest.

"I'm sorry about this Jacob but I have choice." These words frighten him and Jacob opens his eyes to see that the vampire is holding a syringe filled with a clear liquid. Shit. _'Edward you are _not_ drugging me.'_

"I have no choice."

'_Yes you do. Just give me some pain killers.'_

"That won't be enough and you know it." He gives Jacob a stern look and brings the syringe closer to his chest, he's really going to do it, _'Don't you dare _touch_ me with that thing.'_

"It's either this, or you deal with the pain." He sounds frustrated and… worried? Is Edward worried about him? Jacob would have pondered this longer, but he feels the needle penetrate his skin, making the same stabbing pain radiate from the point of contact. He bites his lip and forces himself not to breathe harder than he already is. Edward moves to inject the fluid into his system. Jacob tries one more time to stop him, "Edward… p-_please…"_ he chokes out the words from his mouth to emphasize how much he doesn't want to be drugged. But Edward ignores the plea and injects the contents of the syringe into him.

Jacob feels betrayed by Edward, even though there is almost nothing to betray, he feels saddened. Jacob isn't sure why he hates being sedated so much… Maybe it's because when Mom was in the hospital, every time they drugged her, it took longer for her to wake up, until one day, she just didn't wake up at all.

The drugs begin to take effect, Jacob's body is becoming numb and immobile again and blackness starts to spot his vision until he is overtaken completely, his heartbeat sounds so loud that he almost misses someone whispering into his ear, _"I'm sorry Jacob. I am _so_ sorry."_


End file.
